In front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, there is a monument. It is called " the girl monument of peace. " (소녀상) Her heels can never touch the ground because they are lifted. The sculpter couple , Kim Seo Keong, and Kim Woon Seong did this to express the eternal pain of military sexual slavery womens. They have made this monument from 2011. It is said that they had made other sculptures with their creative spirit of art from the pain of the war and the old ladies. They made the monument with 8 meanings.
First , the bottem of the monument has a shadow tilted slightly to the side. The face of the monument is shaped like a girl. However , the shadow looks like an old lady. They are to show the pain and the scars of the many years they have lived.
Second , the butterfly engraved in the shadows heart means ' rebirth '. It puts in the wish for the ladies who died without satisfying their grudges to be born in a better world.
Third , the empty chair beside the monuments right means the blanck spaces of the old ladies who have already left us. It also means that anyone to sit on the chair and look at the Japanese Embassy with the military sexual slavery womans point of view. It's telling us to not forget the past , the history.
Forth , the the early part of the monument had its hands folded to emphasize that they were innocent and pure. But, the Japanese Government interfered in the making process, so the result ended up with the girl clenching her fists. It contains the promise to never give children and women the pain of the war.
Fifth , the artists first decided to make a monument of an old lady. But when they realized that the old ladies who where taken where 13~18years old ,they changed the monument into a girl wearing traditional clothes.
sixth , when producing the monument , the girls expression was frequently changed. crying faces , and angry faces. So , they expresed " Sad but not sad , angry, but not angry, a small soft girl but determined. "
seventh , the bird sitting on the left side of the girl , means connecting the dead old ladies who didn't retrieve their honor with the old ladies who are alive, fighting even now. The bird represents freedom, and peace.
eighth , the girls hair was tied with the ribbon , but now it changed into roughly cut hair. This meant that the connection with their family and their home were forced to roughly be cut as well as their hair.
I think that our government is really strange because they did nothing good but they say to us : " We have done our very best and did a great job on this 'military sexual slavery agreement' . " Is admitting that Japan didn't force the girls to be there good and the best thing? Is giving a fake apologizement and not giving them reparation is a 'good job' ?Well , that's crazy. The old ladies have experienced pains that can.t be expressed in words. They have fought their whole lives for just a true apology. Is that a hard thing? No. Did they request a hard thing like money and hotel or an expensive pricy stuff? No. Why does the strong and the rich want to keep it for themselves even though they have more than enough? Why does the poor and the weak have to crawl all day? We should change that kind of society and make the world a better place for our children.